This mistake would end up making me rethink if I needed to head back south for safety. It was a lot of death. Not as many resources as I was hoping the north side of the gap would have.

One of the first things I did after having my base up and gathering some water nearby was find a massive mountain to climb. I wanted to launch a prob and get a better understanding of the area itself.

The prob itself allowed me to see I was in quite a small region of the map. It also highlighted some dangers on the map itself, where I did not want to walk on the sand. The sand can have quicksand and drum sand, which is a sure-fire way of telling any sandworms you are in the area. Both of those types of sand I wanted to avoid.

You can also not be that far off into the distance in another region covered by fog. I was granted permission to a friend's base. While we would end up having our separate bases for quite some time. I always had somewhere to hide in a few different regions if things went south and they sure did on occasion.

Not that far from my base I noticed a lot of this white dust that was blowing around the place. At the time I had no idea how lucky I was to find the spot I did. It turns out it was flour that I'd need to farm tens of thousands of sometimes every week for quite some time.

The spot next to my base had half the spawn not on open sand so the sandworms would never bother you farming it. I’d end up keeping the base I built out in a region I rarely went back to after the couple of days I spent here. Unless it was to farm a lot more of that flour.

In the meantime, I went around trying to farm some scavengers. It ended many times with my death. I’d then run back and try again. The same outcome would occur. It turns out I had yet to get to the level for quite an important piece of technology that would have made this region at least bearable.

I then went around looking for new resources. I was shocked by just how barren the area felt. I would often not even fill my sand bike inventory, let alone my own. Between the deaths and not finding any heavy spots of new resources I was starting to feel my time in this new area was a total wash.

I decided to keep exploring. I even left the region I had scouted to go probe another region around the area. These other areas seemed to be a bit tamer, to say the least. This got me thinking if perhaps I did not need to go back south and re-farm all the areas I had discovered.

After a while, I end up making it to the region I was supposed to be setting up next. There is a trading outpost there called The Anvil that has some quests for me to run.

It was also time for me to pick which of the two great houses I was going to join. While this would have some impact on things later for me. I could always become a double agent and switch sides if needed.

The choices were either joining Atreides or Harkonnen. While Atreides is seen more as the “good guys” and Harkonnen as the “bad guys.” I'd say both sides play quite dirty as I progress along and get to see the real side of both factions. Atreides just acts purer while the Harkonnen seem to be more at peace with the grimmer and more ruthless they are seen for.

Since I was going to be playing with some in the Harkonnen faction that is who I ended up joining in the end. This would end up being the faction on the server I was on that had a lot fewer players in it. There would be times were I'd consider switching factions down the road.

After a few more trips back and forth between what was at the time my current base and The Anvil. I decided I hated the trip between some nasty sand as it ended with a couple of close calls with a sandworm.

So, I did perhaps the smartest thing I'd be doing for quite some time on Arrakis. I sent up a base not that far from The Anvil trade post. This would make it easy to return to my base if I did not have a vehicle full of resources by using one of the trade hubs to buy a ride.

This base was also quite a central location for reaching out to multiple different regions and the different resources that I'd need over time. While sure I could have set up bases in those other regions as well. They would not been so close to the trade post that I'd be making quite a few trips to.

While out trying to survey that land. Naturally, I had a run-in with a sandstorm. If it was not the locals trying to kill me or a sandworm. I was having to deal with sandstorms as well. I barely found a little spot to take shelter in while the radio kept warning me about the storm heading my way.

After dealing with some harsh times. I decided I needed a pit of a pick me up. I went to run a trial that involved consuming some spice sand. It’s the way of Arrakis since this is where all the spice sand is farmed. Who am I to turn its powers down?

The trail itself was not that hard. It also did something quite important. It gave me access to the schematic to craft a static compactor. This is the tool needed to farm that flour sand I just so happen to have a base with a decent location not that far from.

While the new place I was starting to call home was not as hard as that other spot. They ended up being quite a game changer in reducing the overall difficulty of the area. I unlocked the schematic and then crafted a Holtzman Shield.

Since I've been mostly using a dagger this kind of shield would come quite in handy. Unless it becomes fully depleted or an enemy can bypass it with certain kinds of shots or melee attacks. The shield is doing all the tanking for me if it holds.

While the top priorities for me were always upgrading to a better cutter for higher resource gathering. My second priority would be upgrading that shield along with a more powerful power bank. Each time, it would make lower-level enemies easier to deal with while giving me a fighting chance at tackling more challenging regions.

Final Thoughts

My first attempt at setting up a long-term base to the north of the southern gap was not successful. I ended up making some needed adjustments and finding a spot I'd call home for quite a long time moving forward.

While there were some struggles at the time that made me think I should not have pushed forward into the regions I had just explored at the time. They would end up paying off from the knowledge I'd gain on future adventures. Ones that I'd leverage to make considerable gains later on making up for the lost time of deaths and not feeling like I was making any forward progression.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Dune: Awakening.